Kairos Course is a study of God’s “Purpose and Plan from Genesis to the end of the Age.” The goal of the course is the formation of a truly biblical worldview and the mobilization of the church into a strategic cross-cultural mission. Kairos is designed to produce a worldview change. It very clearly articulates a strategy, philosophy, and purpose that reflects the heart of God. God is using Kairos to speak powerfully about His passion for reaching the unreached.
Kairos course was developed in the Philippines in 1994 as a strategy to mobilize and train an indigenous mission force. However, the missionaries saw that the churches were NOT mobilizing for missions. Max Chismon introduced Jonathan Lewisʼ’s 15 lesson World Mission Course (WMC) to Filipino church leaders, but they needed a course that was more accessible to the whole church and easily reproducible. So in 1994, they condensed the WMC, adapted it to suit different learning styles, and in 2004 the CWMC became Kairos.
The Kairos Course is a ministry of Living Springs International in association with World Outreach and a member of the Perspectives Family. This resource is recognized as being part of the Perspectives Family of resources. It is not the Perspectives course but includes much of the vision and values of the Perspectives course, sponsored by the Institute of International Studies.
Kairos is designed for any Christian looking to deepen his/her relationship with God. Kairos is designed to make parallel the desires of Godʼs heart with every believerʼs heart. Ultimately, Kairos is designed to transform every believerʼs worldview. Itʼs, not a missions course solely for mission-minded people. It is for everyone! Designed to multiply, Kairos was put together so that any committed Christian can learn to facilitate and eventually conduct the course himself. Itʼs now being taken into Bible Colleges, missions organizations, churches, and small groups across the globe. Kairos is in nearly 60 countries around the world and has been translated into 30 languages! It is empowering the global church to move out beyond the walls of the local community. Barriers are being broken, and the unreached are being reached due to Kairos in local churches.
In Kairos Course, we learn to distinguish between “top line” and “bottom line” things. This idea of “top line” and “bottom line” came from the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12:1-3. Don Richardson says that this covenant can be divided into two main parts. In the first part, God told Abraham, “I will bless you and make your name great.” – this is the “top line” of the covenant. But there is also the second part in this covenant which Don Richardson called the “bottom line.” What is it? It is “so that you will be a blessing,” and “in you, God shall bless all the families of the earth.” So, everything that concerns us is “top line,” and everything that concerns missions is “bottom line.” According to Don Richardson, the “bottom line” of the Covenant places a “cross-cultural obligation on the chosen people of God.” So often, we pray “top line” prayers – prayers for me, my family, my people. But God wants us to pray not only “top line” but also “bottom line” prayers – prayers for the realization of the Great Commission and mission purposes of God.